Requirements to Receive: Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) January 17, 2022

Are you waiting on a blessing (or two or three) from the Lord? Have you prayed night and day? Have you cried and pleaded with God to answer your prayers but feel like His response isn't forthcoming?

Sometimes, we pray for things but forget there are requirements to receive from the Lord. Depending on the requirements involved, we have to ask ourselves if we are doing the needful to receive what we've been petitioning for.

Consider Luke 16:11-12 - So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

Does this verse apply to you? If we haven't been trustworthy with what the Lord has given, we can't expect more. We must be diligent with the gifts and mercies He's granted us. We also can't write off what we have as small. In fact, we can't expect God to give us more when we've despised the days of small things (Zechariah 4:10). And, how do you treat the property of others when under your control? For instance, do you take care of the office laptop as well as you would yours? Do you keep your workspace clean or figure the cleaning staff can clean after you?

And you might be wondering, well, I see Susie and Billy Bob. They're not worried about God, yet they have a new house, a new car, go on vacations, wear designer clothes, go to the best events... Please do not worry about such people. You don't know where the things you see in their possession came from. Only thing you need to focus on is how to get what you need from the Lord God Almighty. He is the only one who gives without toil attached (Proverbs 10:22).

As we prepare to receive, why don't we see how to make the necessary changes in our lives? How can we use what God has given already? Why don't we thank Him? How about we find a way to take what we have and bless others? Let's also use what He's given to His glory. How can we become good stewards, using what is already in our possession to generate more like the servants in the Story of the Talents? Such changes make us worthy of what we've received and position us for more.

See you at Noon EST! God bless.